Andrew108 wrote:...I think a lot of Mahamudra terminology is confusing especially the term awareness. It is important to know that in Mahamudra terms such as self-arisen awareness, clear light, bliss, buddha nature etc have the same meaning. All are 'unfindable' and indescribable and unelaborated. So none of these is an object that can be experienced or held by an other. For example, clear light is not the object of awareness, buddhanature is not an objectification of awareness, bliss is not an object containing emptiness and so on.

I suppose various terms can be confusing when going from one language to another, especially when dealing with technical terminology. Depending on what one reads, these terms are usually defined somewhere. For example, I have read a lot of Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche's works on Mahamudra and have always found them to be straightforward and clear.

I always get a chuckle when I encounter the mention of "clear light". I was reading a translated work by Tony Duff once and came his glossary entry for "Luminosity". Tony's translations are an acquired taste, but he does make some good points. For some reason, I got a good chuckle out of this entry and have never forgotten the notion, always remembering it with a smile.

Luminosity, Skt. pravhasvara, Tib. 'od gsla ba: The core of mind has two aspects: an emptiness factor and a knowing factor. The Buddha and many Indian religious teachers used "luminosity" as a metaphor for the knowing quality of the core of mind. If in English we would say "Mind has a knowing quality", the teachers of ancient India would say, "Mind has an illuminative quality; it is like a source of light which illuminates what it knows".

This term has been translated as "clear light" but that is a mistake that comes from not understanding the etymology of the word. It does not refer to a light that has the quality of clearness (something that makes no sense, actually!) but refers to the illuminative property which is the nature of the empty mind.

Note also that in both Sanskrit and Tibetan Buddhist literature, this term is frequently abbreviated just to Skt. "vava" and Tib. "gsal ba" with no change of meaning. Unfortunately, this has been thought to be another word and it has then been translated with "clarity", when in fact it is just this term in abbreviation.

The knowing quality of the mind can know itself, but not as an object that is concentrated upon.

All things are unworthy of clinging to (sabbe dhammā nâla abhinivesāyā). --Shakyamuni BuddhaIf there is clinging, you do not have the view. --Drakpa Gyaltsen

My practice is 5-10 minutes of anapanasati, followed by 5-10 minutes of vipassana, followed by 5-10 minutes of vivid awareness. This sequence works well for me: shamatha -> analytic -> vivid awareness. By the time I hit vivid awareness I'm primed and ready to roll.

I think I'm getting it, so I don't have any questions now. The feeling is of expansiveness, global awareness and receptivity sans objects (i.e. pure hearing with no interpretation of what is being heard) ... like a shortwave radio receiver turned on and receiving all manner of signals, but without a human mind parsing/interpreting these signals.

It's a beautiful state, throbbing with energy and life.

When there is this, there is that. When there is not this, there is not that. From the arising of this, that arises. From the ceasing of this, that ceases.

My practice is 5-10 minutes of anapanasati, followed by 5-10 minutes of vipassana, followed by 5-10 minutes of vivid awareness. This sequence works well for me: shamatha -> analytic -> vivid awareness. By the time I hit vivid awareness I'm primed and ready to roll.

I think I'm getting it, so I don't have any questions now. The feeling is of expansiveness, global awareness and receptivity sans objects (i.e. pure hearing with no interpretation of what is being heard) ... like a shortwave radio receiver turned on and receiving all manner of signals, but without a human mind parsing/interpreting these signals.

It's a beautiful state, throbbing with energy and life.

Cool!

So if you have a "Happiness" that doesn't change with circumstances (praise and blame, gain and loss, fame and infamy AND happiness and unhappiness) then you keep doing what you are doing. If not, find a real Teacher, like Anam Thubten, or ChNNR, ETC and ask your questions to them, and take their advice.

I believe that both will correspond with you if you keep your questions short.

You might want to try attending the World Wide Transmission of CHNNR on the web. Learn to do the appropriate visualizations before attending. This is like hooking an antenna to the radio, and tuning it to a very special station.